Cinesound Productions

Stuart F. Doyle and Ken G. Hall were the major figures involved in the establishment of Cinesound in 1931.[http://www.smpte.org.au/industrynews37.asp UNESCO HONOURS CINESOUND MOVIETONE PRODUCTIONS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040102171428/http://www.smpte.org.au/industrynews37.asp |date=2 January 2004 }} – Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (Australia Section) Stuart Doyle was the Managing Director of Greater Union Theatres, which stemmed from Australasian Films, and it was his desire to encourage an Australian film industry that provided the impetus for Cinesound to develop. Doyle appointed his then personal assistant, Ken Hall, to the position of General Manager of Cinesound, and also put him in charge as supervisor of production. In this role, Ken Hall directed all but one of the seventeen films that Cinesound produced and also handled the business affairs of the company. Hall continued to lead Cinesound until 1956.[http://www.afc.gov.au/newsandevents/mediarelease/2003/release_263.aspx Ken G Hall Award goes to the late Tom Nurse] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20031222221617/http://www.afc.gov.au/newsandevents/mediarelease/2003/release_263.aspx |date=22 December 2003 }} – Australian Film Commission News & Events. 27 November 2003.

By 1934, Cinesound had three film studios in Australia, the original location at Bondi Junction and Rushcutters Bay in New South Wales and St. Kilda, Victoria.{{Cite web |url=http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/8717/Cinesound.pdf |title= Cinesound: from roller rink to sound stage |access-date=19 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219234536/http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/8717/Cinesound.pdf |archive-date=19 February 2015 |url-status=dead }}

The Centennial Roller Skating Rink was purchased by Australasian Films/Union Theatres at 65 Ebley Street Bondi Junction in 1925 and began making silent films. The income from the rink was still required to subsidise the film making so the site was used by skaters at night and for filmmaking by day. The Bondi Junction location was known as Studio no. 1 with an additional two studios located in Rushcutters Bay and St. Kilda.

Both Doyle and Hall were very committed to the notion of showmanship, which encompassed ideas relating to the type of entertainment the public would want to enjoy, and how to effectively publicise that entertainment to the masses. The publicity campaign for The Squatter's Daughter, and its star Jocelyn Howarth, was particularly imbued with this concept. They were also interested in creating a star system along Hollywood lines promoting the idea that Cinesound was a "little Hollywood". It was this dedication to showmanship that led to all but one of Cinesound's feature films making a profit from the first release, and all of the films eventually at least broke even. In 1939 Hall said that the budgets of Cinesound films were usually between £10,000 and £20,000, and estimated that his first fourteen films had earned £350,000 at the box office.'KEN HALL SAYS A WORD FOR AUSTRALIAN FILMS', The Courier-Mail (Brisbane) Thursday 13 July 1939 Section: Second Section. p 6

In 1933 Doyle announced he hoped to make 16 films at their various studios over the next 18 months.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33305795 |title=AUSTRALIAN TALKIES. |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Perth |date=11 August 1933 |access-date=29 January 2012 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} This never happened although the success of On Our Selection (1932) and The Squatter's Daughter (1933), along with the proposed introduction of quotas for Australian films in the mid-1930s, saw Cinesound become bullish about expansion. They increased the size of their studio to make Strike Me Lucky (1934), and announced a series of future productions, including Grandad Rudd and an adaptation of the novel Robbery Under Arms, as well as several films produced in Queensland over the next two years, one set in the cattle industry, another in the cane fields and a third on the Great Barrier Reef. It was proposed Cinesound would make 12 movies a year in the first year of the quota: four "super productions", four "quota specials", and four independent Cinesound productions.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36735908?searchTerm=%22strike%20me%20lucky%22%20cinesound&searchLimits=l-category=Article%7Ccategory%3AArticle|||sortby=dateAsc 'QUEENSLAND FILMS Production Planned', The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), Monday 6 August 1934 p 20] There was also talk of establishing a studio in Melbourne at St Kilda.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49515500?searchTerm=%22strike%20me%20lucky%22%20cinesound&searchLimits=l-category=Article%7Ccategory%3AArticle|||sortby=dateAsc 'AUSTRALIAN FILMS Company Increases Equipment', Barrier Miner (Broken Hill), Thursday 9 August 1934 Edition: HOME EDITION p 5]

In 1936 they announced they would make six films a year, with one unit devoted to shooting outdoor movies.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11938812 "SIX FEATURE FILMS EACH YEAR." The Argus (Melbourne) 20 November 1936: 11] accessed 29 November 2011

In the end the quotas did not prove effective enough to support such a program, although Cinesound kept making movies until 1940.

In February 1939 a company was registered, Cinesound Features Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of Cinesound Productions Pty. Ltd, to produce the feature productions of the parent company. The directors of the new company were the same as Cinesound Productions: Norman Rydge, Edwin Geach, and John Goulston.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17563109?searchTerm=cinesound%20feature%20rydge&searchLimits= 'Cinesound Features', The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday 14 February 1939 p8]

Cinesound established a talent school for young actors in 1938. Run by George Cross and Alec Kellaway (who acted in many Cinesound films), it offered training in "deportment, enunciation, miming, microphone technique and limbering." By 1940 the school had had over 200 students, including Grant Taylor and Yvonne East, who featured in Dad Rudd, MP (1940), plus Valerie Scanlon, Lorna Westbrook, Natalie Raine, and Mary Sinclair.'Australians Seek Fame, 200 in Starlet School' Sunday Times (Perth), Sunday 30 June 1940 p6

Cinesound Productions produced feature films until the Second World War, when it was considered that feature films were too great a financial risk to undertake. Cinesound then concentrated on producing the Cinesound Review, a newsreel that they had been generating to exhibit alongside their feature films.

After the war, the British businessman J. Arthur Rank bought a controlling interest in Greater Union, and used the theatre chain primarily to exhibit British films, including those from the Rank Organisation, whilst discouraging local feature production. Hence Cinesound never regained its place as a major local film producer, and Australian film production was almost non-existent for the next two decades.

In 1940 the Australian Government decided to channel news footage to the public through the existing newsreel companies, Cinesound and Movietone. In the same year Cinesound abandoned feature production for the duration of the war.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17682961?searchTerm=cinesound%20%22box%20office%22&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc|||l-category=Article%7Ccategory%3AArticle 'NO MORE FEATURE FILMS. Cinesound Decision', The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 28 June 1940 p 9] By this stage it was estimated Cinesound films had earned £400,000 at the box office.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11307305?searchTerm=cinesound%20%22box%20office%22&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc|||l-category=Article%7Ccategory%3AArticle 'THE TRAGEDY OF CINESOUND'S STRUGGLE A Brave Rearguard Action-Fought Over 10 Years Has Ended Because the Odds Were Too Great', The Argus (Melbourne), Saturday 13 July 1940 Supplement: The Argus Week-end Magazine p 2]

In 1942 Cinesound provided the operational base for the film unit of the US Signal Corps to prepare newsreels for viewing to American troops in the South West Pacific theatre of the war.

In 1946 arrangements were made with the commercial film distribution companies to distribute selected Commonwealth Film Unit productions in Australian cinemas on a commercial basis. Similar arrangements existed for the release of general sponsored documentaries produced by Movietone and Cinesound.

Other Australian producers were almost totally deprived of access to commercial cinema screens.

Despite the success of Ken G Hall's last feature, Smithy (1946), which was backed by Columbia Pictures as a means of repatriating frozen currency held in Australia due to wartime restrictions, Greater Union Theatres decided not to resume post-war production through Cinesound.

• On Our Selection (1932)
• The Squatter's Daughter (1933)
• The Silence of Dean Maitland (1934)
• Strike Me Lucky (1934)
• Grandad Rudd (1935)
• Thoroughbred (1936)
• Orphan of the Wilderness (1936)
• It Isn't Done (1937)
• Tall Timbers (1937)
• Lovers and Luggers (1937)
• The Broken Melody (1938)
• Let George Do It (1938)
• Dad and Dave Come to Town (1938)
• Gone to the Dogs (1939)
• Come Up Smiling (1939)
• Mr. Chedworth Steps Out (1939)
• Dad Rudd, MP (1940)

• Thar She Blows! (1931)
• That's Cricket (1931)
• Cinesound Review (weekly newsreel) (1931–1975)
• Cinesound Varieties (1934)
• 100,000 Cobbers (1942)
• South West Pacific (1943)

Various films were announced for production by Cinesound that were not made,{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|title=Unmade Cinesound|date=10 August 2019}} including:

• a talking version of For the Term of His Natural Life, which was previously filmed by Australasian Films in 1927[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32589361 "AUSTRALIAN FILMS"] The West Australian (Perth) 20 Feb 1933: 8, accessed 7 December 2011
• Con of the South Seas based on a novel by Beatrice Grimshaw, which had been previously filmed by Australasian Films as The Adorable Outcast (1928){{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16899698|title=AUSTRALIAN FILMS|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=16 Jun 1932|page=9|access-date=9 December 2011}}
• a remake of The Pioneers (1926) which had been made by Australasian{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83706537 |title=AUSTRALIAN FILMS |newspaper=The Daily News |location=Perth |date=1 July 1932 |access-date=4 August 2012 |page=9|edition=HOME (FINAL) |via=National Library of Australia}}
• a remake of Tall Timber (1926)
• a remake of The Fatal Wedding (1911)[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33326415 "AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTIONS" The West Australian (Perth) 14 Jul 1933: 2] accessed 15 December 2011
• Rudd's New Selection, a sequel to On Our Selection
• Big Timber from a script by Edmond Seward from the novel by William Hatfield{{cite news|title="CINESOUND FILMS"|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17218823|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date= 26 October 1935|page= 21| access-date= 15 December 2011}} – It is likely this project was bumped for Tall Timbers (1937)
• Gold Dust and Ashes from a story by Ion Idriess[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11851990 "Notes on the Screen." The Argus (Melbourne) 6 November 1935: 10] accessed 15 December 2011
• film written by Kenneth Wilkinson about koalas to be directed by Frank Hurley along the lines of Man of Aran (1934) – this was to be one of a series of naturalistic films from Hurley written by Wilkinson{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17223143 |title=CINESOUND FILMS |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=14 December 1935 |access-date=12 August 2012 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}} – this plan was abandoned by April 1936{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17347397 |title=AUSTRALIAN FILMS |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=30 April 1936 |access-date=12 August 2012 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• film shot by Frank Hurley about an expedition to the South Pole partially shot in Antarctica{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17237284 |title=CAPTAIN HURLEY |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=22 January 1936 |access-date=12 August 2012 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• Pearl of Great Price, a story about the pearling trade – this may have become Lovers and Luggers
• Yellow Sands – a "thrilling tale of Australian sport and manhood"{{cite news|title="BIG PLANS FOR 'TALKIES'"|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37024833 |newspaper= The Courier-Mail |location=Brisbane|date= 20 November 1936|page= 6| access-date= 29 November 2011}}
• The Haunted House{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35603726 |title=FIVE AUSTRALIAN FILMS IN YEAR |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=9 August 1938 |access-date=15 August 2012 |page=21 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• the story of the Overland Telegraph
• an adaptation of the novel Robbery Under Arms{{cite magazine|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/wrecking-australian-stores-the-1957-film-version-of-robbery-under-arms/|date=7 March 2025|access-date=7 March 2025|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|title=Wrecking Australian stores: the 1957 film version of Robbery Under Arms|magazine=Filmink}}
• a version of the Eureka Stockade story.{{cite news|title=Cinesound Starts Production on Mahoney Film|work=The Mercury|location=Hobart|date=1 July 1939|page=5}}
• Life of Melba, a biopic about opera singer Nellie Melba starring Marjorie Lawrence – announced September 1939, film meant to start in June 1940.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17598649 |title=FILM OF MELBA'S LIFE. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=31,720 |date=30 August 1939 |access-date=16 October 2016 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}} John Boles was to co-star. However the war caused these plans to be pushed back.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58973589 |title=Jack Lester Plans New Perth Show |newspaper=Sunday Times (Perth) |issue=2180 |location=Western Australia |date=5 November 1939 |access-date=16 October 2016 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news|title='Jack Lester Plans New Perth Show', Sunday Times (Perth), Sunday 5 November 1939 p 5}}
• adaptation of Tusitala to be made in the 1960s{{cite web|website=Australian National University|url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/109798/2/b10157529-pike_A_F.pdf |title=The History of an Australian Film Production Company: Cinesound, 1932–70|first=Andrew Franklin|last=Pike|page=216}}

Hall intended to cast overseas stars in the lead of Overland Telegraph, Robbery Under Arms and Erueka Stockade.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40845135 |title=LACK OF FILM PLAYERS |newspaper=The Courier-Mail |location=Brisbane |date=26 June 1939 |access-date=16 August 2012 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Of all these an adaptation of Robbery Under Arms was the most frequently discussed – Ken G. Hall later described it as "the film I wanted to make more than any other".Ken G. Hall, Directed by Ken G. Hall, Lansdowne Press, 1977 p93

Film rights were bought from Raymond Longford (for a reported £1,500{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128482273 |title=Film Industry in Australia. |newspaper=The News |location=Adelaide |date=11 June 1935 |access-date=17 March 2015 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}) and a script prepared. The film was meant to be Cinesound's third feature and was announced on 20 March 1933.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16966912 |title=AUSTRALIAN FILMS |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=21 March 1933 |access-date=17 March 2015 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} There were plans to shoot it in colour.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16970642 |title=FILMS IN COLOUR |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=3 June 1933 |access-date=17 March 2015 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}

It was pushed back to be Cinesound's fourth feature and John Longden signed to play Captain Starlight.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62338909 |title=STAGE ASIDES. |newspaper=Townsville Daily Bulletin |location=Qld. |date=6 March 1934 |access-date=16 March 2015 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33009609 |title="THE SILENCE OF DEAN MAITLAND" FILMED IN RECORD TIME IN SYDNEY |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Perth |date=16 March 1934 |access-date=16 March 2015 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} A budget of £20,000 was allocated with filming to take place in Burraganong Valley.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58630269 |title=Soviet Seeking Outside Film Markets. |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=16 September 1933 |access-date=17 March 2015 |page=6 Section: "Candida's" Women's Section |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33305795 |title=AUSTRALIAN TALKIES |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Perth |date=11 August 1933 |access-date=17 March 2015 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} Edmund Barclay wrote the script.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58631202 |title=IN AUSTRALIAN STUDIOS |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=13 January 1934 |access-date=17 March 2015 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The movie was then pushed back to enable filming of Cinesound Varieties.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17048575 |title=AUSTRALIAN FILM. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=15 February 1934 |access-date=17 March 2015 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} Shooting was meant to start after that but it was winter and experience of Squatter's Daughter showed this cost time so the film was postponed again.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17070263 |title=AUSTRALIAN FILMS |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=3 March 1934 |access-date=17 March 2015 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}} Another reason is that Cinesound had trouble with the censor on The Silence of Dean Maitland and were worried about censor trouble on Robbery; Hall said he would not make the film until the censor had passed the script.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33231894 |title=CENSORSHIP MODIFIED |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Perth |date=17 May 1934 |access-date=17 March 2015 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}

It was then announced the film would be made the next year following Grandad Rudd at a budget of £15,000. However this was abandoned because Cinesound were unsure whether the ban against bushranging films still applied.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17119163 |title=BONUSES FOR FILMS |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=20 October 1934 |access-date=10 August 2012 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In 1935 it was announced the film would be one of four movies made by Cinesound in response to the New South Wales Film Quota Act (the others were Thoroughbred, Tall Timbers and Lovers and Luggers).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51961502 |title=BIG AUSTRALIAN FILMS. |newspaper=The Examiner |location=Launceston, Tasmania |date=1 November 1935 |access-date=16 March 2015 |page=9|edition=DAILY|via=National Library of Australia}} The film was announced again in late 1936{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168156345 |title=Six Australian Films. |newspaper=Shepparton Advertiser |location=Vic. |date=8 December 1936 |access-date=16 March 2015 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}} and late 1937.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92477408 |title=NEWS of the TALKIES |newspaper=The Chronicle |location=Adelaide |date=2 December 1937 |access-date=16 March 2015 |page=51 |via=National Library of Australia}} In 1938 Hal Roach announced plans to make a bushranger story called Captain Midnight in Hollywood; Hall reminded that he had the rights to Robbery Under Arms.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article167348052 |title=STORY PIRACY ALLEGED |newspaper=The Newcastle Sun |location=NSW |date=2 December 1938 |access-date=16 March 2015 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} (Roach made an original story called Captain Fury).

William Freshman and his wife were bought out to Australia in 1939 to work on projects for Cinesound, including Robbery Under Arms, although Hall was still to direct it.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12116599 |title=A Film Critic's Diary. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=12 April 1939 |access-date=16 March 2015 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25617876 |title=CinesoundStarts Production on Mahoney Film. |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Hobart, Tasmania |date=1 July 1939 |access-date=16 March 2015 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}

These plans were postponed by the advent of World War II and Cinesound's withdrawal from feature film production in 1940.

After the war Hall tried to produce the film independently but was unable to secure the necessary funds. As late as 1952, Cinesound almost raised money for a coproduction with Ealing Studios, who were going to make Robbery Under Arms following Eureka Stockade.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18007868 |title=AUSTRALIAN FILM PROSPECTS|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=27 March 1947 |access-date=17 March 2015 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78208896 |title=Ealing will make more films here. |newspaper=The Daily News |location=Perth |date=15 March 1947 |access-date=17 March 2015 |page=11|edition=FIRST |via=National Library of Australia}} They were ultimately prevented by restrictions on capital investment and the closing of Pagewood Studios.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47376929 |title=Pagewood Studios To Close |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=21 January 1952 |access-date=16 March 2015 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23160582 |title=AUSTRALIAN film production received two heavy blows last week. Cinesound Ltd. was refused permission to raise capital to make a film of "Robbery Under Arms"; and Ealing Studios oi Britain decided to stop making films in Australia. MUST OUR FILM INDUSTRY DIE? |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=1 February 1952 |access-date=16 March 2015 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

{{reflist|25em}}

• [http://www.cinesoundmovietone.com.au/ Cinesound Movietone Website]
• [http://australianscreen.com.au/company/Cinesound+Productions/ Cinesound Productions – partial filmography] – Australian Screen, an Australian Film Commission resource
• [https://www.imdb.com/company/co0042227/ Cinesound Productions] at IMDb
• [http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/summary/summary.w3p;adv=no;group=;groupequals=;page=0;parentid=;query=Organisation%3A%22%2FOrganisation%2Fkey%2F1832-1%22;querytype=;resCount=10 Cinesound Productions] at National Film and Sound Archive
• {{cite web|website=Australian National University|url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/109798/2/b10157529-pike_A_F.pdf |title=The History of an Australian Film Production Company: Cinesound, 1932–70|first=Andrew Franklin|last=Pike}}

{{Cinema of Australia}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Australian film studios

Category:Film production companies of Australia

Category:Mass media companies established in 1931

Category:Mass media companies disestablished in 1952

Category:Australian companies established in 1931

Category:1952 disestablishments in Australia